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REVIEW: X-MEN: APOCALYPSE

Once again, director Bryan Singer, takes us back to the X-Men era before Patrick Stewart’s portrayal of Professor X and Ian McKellen’s portrayal of Magneto. Set in the 1980s, Professor X (James McAvoy) and his crew of gifted youngsters, are at war with, Apocalypse, a type of demigod created thousands of years ago. Apocalypse begins to recruit other mutants to fight alongside him in order to cleanse the world of people being controlled by weak leaders.

Now, when I first read the reviews for this film on Rotten Tomatoes, I thought immediately, “oh no.” I expected this film to be atrocious. A mere nightmare to watch. But I really must say, X-Men: Apocalypse, like so many other recently reviewed films, are being dragged through the mud with very little cause for such action. X-Men: Apocalypse isn’t without its faults, but there were more moments that really make this film a pleasure to watch.

Singer, along with screenwriter Simon Kinberg, let the movie begin with too many plot directions. It’s as though they stuffed and stuffed these characters into this film. The overcrowding of characters did, in the end, make for a fantastic battle. I won’t hate on that element too much, but it did make for a very slow beginning. The film doesn’t grab you from the start, because it’s too busy presenting origin stories for the new characters, e.g. Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), Jean Grey (Game of Thrones‘ Sophie Turner), Quicksilver (Evan Peters), and Cyclops (Tye Sheridan). But once this film gets going, man, is it fun to watch.

Michael Fassbender, whose portrayal as Magneto, was absolutely fantastic. Magneto really drove the film to those emotional points at the beginning. Fassbender was incredible! Also, Peters’ portrayal of Quicksilver was hilarious. Quicksilver’s humor added that much needed “breaking of ice” throughout the film. But X-Men veterans aside, I was really surprised with newcomers, Turner and Sheridan. Both of them, who were once child actors, are now turning to more adult roles. Although, Turner’s Game of Thrones role was probably adult to begin with. But none the less, you often see these young people succeed in one role, only to fail when they try to expand their résumé. This was not so for Turner and Sheridan, as they both have excellent performances. On the flip side of the coin, X-Men veteran, Jennifer Lawrence was a bit boring to watch. Her portrayal as Mystique, was often dead pan, and uneventful. As for Oscar Isaac’s performance as Apocalypse, I was never really “frightened” by him. No fault against Isaac’s acting, but I felt the character of Apocalypse needed to have more of those “WTF” scenes.

In the end, X-Men: Apocalypse is not a failure. As I said before, this film has its faults, but no more than other films. X-Men: Apocalypse is filled with tons of action, lots of emotion, and is an all-around entertaining film to watch.